QuickLook: Cricket Laptop Stand [review]

Posted by: Brandon Steili on Sep 03 2008

I’ve been sitting on this one for a while now and figured it was just about time to finally get it off my plate. I feel bad when stuff like this happens, because its not so much a fault of the product, but a fault of my own. Sometimes you just dread sitting down and writing a review about something. I’m not sure why it happens, but the Cricket Laptop Stand was definitely one of the ones that whooped my butt. So without further ado, here’s the much shorter than it should be quick look at the Cricket - one of last year’s top products demo’d at CES.

Straight out of the box you can see what makes the cricket different from most other laptop stands on the market - and NO it’s not that neon green color that threatens to blind you with brightness on a hot sunny day, it’s the extreme portability of the Cricket. This little stand is literally no longer than my hand and only about 2 inches wide when its folded up. If you’re mobile - there’s pretty much nowhere you can’t tote this thing around with you.

Hit the break for more …

Speaking of mobile - the folks from Innovative Office Products were nice enough to include a handy little carry bag along with the Cricket, so even if you’re just tossing the stand into a bag with a bunch of other stuff you know that smexy green paint isn’t going to get scratched.

Alright - first and only major complaints. See the nubs that stick up over the end of the laptop into the palm rest? If not click the image for a bigger version. Go ahead… I’ll wait.

Alright - so now you’ve seen the nubs. Major Annoyance. Not so annoying as to make it show stopper but annoying enough that you’re either going to lop them off with a Dremel or you’re going to use a mouse and keyboard. Since my MacBook is my main and really only portable system - I think I’ll eventually just go the Dremel route since I can cut them off right at the edge and know they’ll still support the laptop okay.

Second annoyance - and again this is only a minor annoyance - is a slight lack of stability at higher angles. Now technically this could just be due to the width of the MacBook, but I found I could rock it back and forth a bit. I wasn’t worried about it falling over, but there was some minor wobble. I think if you were using this as a stand for a tablet in slate mode you’d be fine or if you were using a mouse and keyboard you’d never even notice it.

Ok - Here’s the other major selling point of this stand - Versatility. The stand itself is able to handle multiple height settings. Check out this range.

So there you have it. Versatility and portability all in one simple product made of 70% recycled material. Oh - and its also available in white and black if you’re not up for showing off your "minty" side.

You can pick up the Circket Laptop Stand from Innovative Office Products for $39.95

 

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